Sounds like Wichita St to the AAC... Who gets an Invite?

[ShoxNAwe]

The next big moment in college athletics is Wichita State’s potential move to the American Athletic Conference.
Sources around college athletics theorize that the conclusion of the tournament clears the way for that announcement. While these sources aren’t briefed specifically on the details, they expect official word — after months of anonymous sources and no comments — by the middle of the upcoming week. A few can see a timeline that extends a few days, perhaps as long as another week, before the move is made official.
“If it’s done, you can’t hold these things,” one source in college athletics administration said.

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/wi ... rylink=cpy

[LanceShock]

Here is a article from the Wichita Eagle on some of the history of how the Valley went from the Valley of Death to what it is today:

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/wi ... 98179.html

[Valleyball]

Someone needs to propose a bold direction forward. The MVC needs to pluck Belmont, Murray State, and then set up some sort of relegation league with the Horizon...basically maintain both conferences and conference tournaments, but swap the member schools around annually based on success in the previous season.

Not sure if you are serious. Because I am sure nobody would go for it. But I love this idea. It would really boost late season interest, get national attention, and just be a great setup. Too bad nobody would go for it.

Also the initial setup of who goes to the lower conference would be hard to get agreement.

I wish some sport would go with this idea. It is one great idea that Soccer has.

[Drakey]

I assume the NCAA rules would not allow switching members every year and allow two auto bids.

[Wufan]

I assume the NCAA rules would not allow switching members every year and allow two auto bids.

Maybe, but why not? They allow teams to switch conferences.

[Drakey]

AAC is going to be in conference tier purgatory. Even with Wichita, you can't put them in the same tier as the P5+BE. At the same time, you can't put them in the same tier as the A-10 and everyone below them.

The AAC will be a tier upon themselves. They need the terrible teams to be merely bad, the bad teams to be average, and the above-average teams to be NIT teams. If everyone takes a half-step forward, they'll make the power 6 a power 7.

But also don't forget SMU is a ticking time bomb. Larry Brown is out and Jankovich is in, which means that thing is heading south

New conference tiers:

Tier 1: ACC, B1G, Big 12, Pac-12, $EC, Big Priest
Tier 2: American
Tier 3: A-10, MWC (last 2 years results would argue MWC should be below this, but the decade of track record before makes me leave them here for now)
Tier 4: MVC, WCC (the funny thing is, WCC and MVC were more or less equal...but our members (Creighton, Wichita) were geographically positioned to be poached while Gonzaga and St Mary's aren't)

I don't think Gonzaga and St. Mary's have any interest in being "poached." Obviously Gonzaga was in a similar situation to WSU ten years ago, but chose to not think their conference was holding them back. WSU apparently thinks otherwise. If WSU was confident that they could maintain their current level of recruiting and play, it seems that they would want to stay put. Their chances of sliding and beconming less relevant increase in a conference where there are multiple schools spending as much as they do on basketball. I'm guessing we'll se more of Gonzaga one the national scene over the next ten years than we will of WSU, but who knows?

[Wufan]

AAC is going to be in conference tier purgatory. Even with Wichita, you can't put them in the same tier as the P5+BE. At the same time, you can't put them in the same tier as the A-10 and everyone below them.

The AAC will be a tier upon themselves. They need the terrible teams to be merely bad, the bad teams to be average, and the above-average teams to be NIT teams. If everyone takes a half-step forward, they'll make the power 6 a power 7.

But also don't forget SMU is a ticking time bomb. Larry Brown is out and Jankovich is in, which means that thing is heading south

New conference tiers:

Tier 1: ACC, B1G, Big 12, Pac-12, $EC, Big Priest
Tier 2: American
Tier 3: A-10, MWC (last 2 years results would argue MWC should be below this, but the decade of track record before makes me leave them here for now)
Tier 4: MVC, WCC (the funny thing is, WCC and MVC were more or less equal...but our members (Creighton, Wichita) were geographically positioned to be poached while Gonzaga and St Mary's aren't)

I don't think Gonzaga and St. Mary's have any interest in being "poached." Obviously Gonzaga was in a similar situation to WSU ten years ago, but chose to not think their conference was holding them back. WSU apparently thinks otherwise. If WSU was confident that they could maintain their current level of recruiting and play, it seems that they would want to stay put. Their chances of sliding and beconming less relevant increase in a conference where there are multiple schools spending as much as they do on basketball. I'm guessing we'll se more of Gonzaga one the national scene over the next ten years than we will of WSU, but who knows?

Gonzaga has St Mary's. BYU too. It's not about "thinking" a conference is holding you back, it's about a conference full of teams that spend less that half on basketball compared to WSU. Bradley is the only other team that wouldn't be last in the WCC in basketball expenditures.

How about Creighton, Xavier, and Butler? They followed a different model than the Zags. Were they wrong too?

[NEI Panther]

Interesting article here about all the money the WCC teams are spending: http://pepperdine-graphic.com/mens-bask ... s-the-wcc/

[NEI Panther]

Below is 2014 info

http://www.bbstate.com/info/teams-hoopsbudget/_/WCC

37 $6,138,269 Gonzaga Bulldogs Spokane, WA McCarthey Athletic Center Mark Few (since 1999) Site, Schedule, School

51 $5,760,849 Brigham Young Cougars Provo, UT Marriott Center Dave Rose (since 2005) Site, Schedule, School

103 $2,877,753 San Francisco Dons San Francisco, CA War Memorial Gymnasium Rex Walters (since 2008) Site, Schedule, School

108 $2,673,460 Loyola Marymount Lions Los Angeles, CA Gersten Pavilion Max Good (since 2011) Site, Schedule, School

114 $2,533,902 Saint Mary's Gaels Moraga, CA McKeon Pavilion Randy Bennett (since 2001) Site, Schedule, School

122 $2,441,285 San Diego Toreros San Diego, CA Jenny Craig Pavilion Bill Grier (since 2007) Site, Schedule, School

140 $2,183,706 Santa Clara Broncos Santa Clara, CA Leavey Center Kerry Keating (since 2007) Site, Schedule, School

141 $2,169,272 Pepperdine Waves Malibu, CA Firestone Fieldhouse Marty Wilson (since 2011) Site, Schedule, School

145 $2,127,678 Portland Pilots Portland, OR Chiles Center Eric Reveno (since 2006) Site, Schedule, School

169 $1,836,357 Pacific Tigers Stockton, CA A.C. Spanos Center Ron Verlin (since 2013) Site, Schedule, School

[SubGod22]

Gonzaga is also in a conference with similar schools with similar missions. Wichita is not.